getting started

[gmixstudios]

Hey there. right I have a handy drill and a solder set. what I need to know is are all pots the same or am I looking for a certain type of pot? also what type of switchs do I need? and last but not least can you name a casio or other keyboard that would suit a newbie in terms of simplicity to circuit bend?

Cheers

Rob.

[papaspank]

Pots are a many varied beast!

As far as I can tell - (and this is PRETTY BASIC knowledge tbh) there's really two basic types.

Firstly - linear (LIN) ... these give resistance that increases (or decreases) across the range in small single 'steps'. What this means is that
at the low point the'll have the lowest resistance...
at the half way point they'll have half their full resistance..
at the highest point they'll have full resistance...

The other type logarithmic (LOG), does the same job, but the ratio's is different...
instead of changing in even ittle portions, the LOG type changes in 'stages'
That is to say half way, is not half the full resistance - it's more like 25%.
3/4 way up, more like 50-65%(roughly) of full resistance.

And the K bit, at the end of the description? in 'electro-speak'
it is the maximum resistance of the pot in question, the bigger the number - the less 'juice' is going to come out the other side.

Hope this is useful info for you.. 

[Signal:Noise]

Get an SA-1, that was my first project and It couldn't have been simpler.